Akbar Torkan an Iranian politician and Chief Adviser of President Hassan Rouhani, says any Iranian from other provinces should have a farming land in Mohammara (Khoramshahr) & Abbadan.

The Iranian chief adviser of Rouhani calls investors and ordinary people from non-Arab provinces to have land from palm farms which belong to indigenous Arabs in Mohammara (Khouramshahr), Abbadan, Salboukh island (Mino) and Ghasbah in southern part of Ahwaz province. In an interview by the national TV station on 19th June Torkan insists and encourages any Iranian to own a piece of land in the most fertile and beautiful farm lands in the country. He advised the authority in Free Zone area in Abbadan to facilitate all means for non-Arab investors from other provinces.

The interviewer asked Torkan what about local Arabs? He replied Arab farmers should look after the farms and new owners will visit their lands and spend their holiday in the farms. The interviewer asked Torkan another question: You do not think that the plan will end to local farmers become gourds and workers? Torkan answered in whatever circumstances they (local farmers) are only workers on the lands.

The project of land confiscation aimed to take local Arabs lands in Shat-al-Arab and Arabian Gulf and known as “Arvand” project. The project aims to confiscate thousands of hectares from indigenous Ahwazi Arab farmers which has started years ago. Mohammara and Abbadan are the most important cities of Arabistan province due to oil & gas filed, economic, export and import and the best fertile lands in the region. The oil refinery was established in 1908 and is the most important one in Middle East. The “Arvand” project is estimated with 173 square km, and suspended in recent years due to economic sanction on Iran. The project started again following the recent visit of Hassan Rouhani to the province.

Ahwaz Human Rights Organisation condemns the new project to seize on local Ahwazi Arabs in Mohammara and Abbadan. AHRO calls the international organisations to apply more pressure on the Islamic Republic to stop further land confiscation and demographic changes of indigenous people. It also calls international communities to stop further ethnic cleansing and displace of local Arabs.